OFT is the medal faithful to its trust

When temples, columns, towers, are laid in dust ;
And 'tis a common ordinance of fate

5

That things obscure and small outlive the great :
Hence, when yon mansion and the flowery trim
Of this fair garden, and its alleys dim,
And all its stately trees, are passed away,
This little Niche, unconscious of decay,
Perchance may still survive. And be it known
That it was scooped within 1 the living stone, -
Not by the sluggish and ungrateful pains
Of labourer plodding for his daily gains,
But by an industry that wrought in love;
With help from female hands, that proudly strove 2
To aid the work, what time these walks and bowers 15
Were shaped to cheer dark winter's lonely hours.3

10

This niche is still to be seen, although not quite "unconscious of decay." The growth of yew-trees, over and around it, has darkened the seat; and constant damp has decayed the soft stone. The niche having been scooped out by Mrs. Wordsworth and Dorothy, as well as by Wordsworth, suggests the cutting of the inscriptions on the Rock of Names in 1800, in which they all took part. (See vol. iii. pp. 61, 62.) On his return to Grasmere from Coleorton, Wordsworth wrote thus to Sir George Beaumont, in an undated letter, about this inscription :-“ What follows I composed yesterday morning, thinking there might be no impropriety in placing it so as to be visible only to a person sitting within the niche, which is hollowed out of the sandstone in the winter-garden. I am told that this is, in the

1

1815.

That it was fashioned in

MS.

2 1815.

But by prompt hands of Pleasure and of Love,
Female and Male; that emulously strove

MS.

3 1827.

To shape the work, what time these walks and bowers
Were framed to cheer dark winter's lonely hours.

present form of the niche, impossible; but I shall be most ready, when I come to Coleorton, to scoop out a place for it, if Lady Beaumont think it worth while." Then follows the

INSCRIPTION.

Oft is the medal faithful to its trust.

On Nov. 16, 1811, writing again to Sir George on this subject of the "Inscriptions," and evidently referring to this one on the "Niche," he says, "As to the 'Female,' and 'Male,' I know not how to get rid of it; for that circumstance gives the recess an appropriate interest. On this account, the lines had better be suppressed, for it is not improbable that the altering of them might cost me more trouble than writing a hundred fresh ones."-ED.

WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF SIR GEORGE BEAUMONT, BART., AND IN HIS NAME, FOR AN URN, PLACED BY HIM AT THE TERMINATION OF A NEWLY-PLANTED AVENUE, IN THE SAME GROUNDS

Composed 1808. - Published 1815

One of the "Inscriptions." ED.

YE Lime-trees, ranged before this hallowed Urn,
Shoot forth with lively power at Spring's return;
And be not slow a stately growth to rear
Of pillars, branching off from year to year,

Till they have learned to frame a darksome aisle ;- 5
That may recal to mind that awful Pile 1

1 1820.

Till ye have framed, at length, a darksome aisle,
Like a recess within that sacred pile

MS. letter to Sir George Beaumont, 1811.

Till they at length have framed a darksome Aisle ;-
Like a recess within that awful Pile

1815.

Where Reynolds, 'mid our country's noblest dead,
In the last sanctity of fame is laid.
-There, though by right the excelling Painter sleep
Where Death and Glory a joint sabbath keep,
Yet not the less his Spirit would hold dear
Self-hidden praise, and Friendship's private tear :
Hence, on my patrimonial grounds, have I
Raised this frail tribute to his memory;
From youth a zealous follower of the Art 1
That he professed; attached to him in heart;
Admiring, loving, and with grief and pride
Feeling what England lost when Reynolds died.

10

15

These Lime-trees now form "a stately growth of pillars," "a darksome aisle"; and the urn remains, as set up in 1807, at the end of the avenue.

The "awful Pile," where Reynolds lies, and where-
Death and Glory a joint sabbath keep,

is, of course, Westminster Abbey.

After Wordsworth's return from Coleorton and Stockton to Grasmere, he wrote thus to Sir George Beaumont :

"MY DEAR SIR GEORGE,

"Had there been room at the end of the small avenue. of lime-trees for planting a spacious circle of the same trees, the Urn might have been placed in the centre, with the inscription thus altered,

1

"Ye lime-trees ranged around this hallowed urn,
Shoot forth with lively power at spring's return !

1815.

Hence, an obscure Memorial, without blame,
In these domestic Grounds, may bear his name;
Unblamed this votive Urn may oft renew
Some mild sensations to his Genius due
From One-a humble Follower of the Art

Five lines instead of three in MS. letter to Sir George Beaumont, 16th November, 1811.

And be not slow a stately growth to rear,
Bending your docile boughs from year to year,
Till in a solemn concave they unite;
Like that Cathedral Dome beneath whose height
Reynolds, among our country's noble Dead,
In the last sanctity of fame is laid.
Here may some Painter sit in future days,
Some future poet meditate his lays!
Not mindless of that distant age, renowned,
When inspiration hovered o'er this ground,
The haunt of him who sang, how spear and shield
In civil conflict met on Bosworth field,
And of that famous youth (full soon removed
From earth!) by mighty Shakespeare's self approved,
Fletcher's associate, Jonson's friend beloved.

"The first couplet of the above, as it before stood, would have appeared ludicrous, if the stone had remained after the trees might have been gone. The couplet relating to the household virtues did not accord with the painter and the poet; the former being allegorical figures; the latter, living men."

This letter-which is not now in the Beaumont collection at Coleorton Hall seems to imply that Wordsworth thought of combining the first couplet on the Urn with the last nine lines of the inscription for the stone behind the Cedar tree. this was never carried out. The inscriptions are printed in the text as they were carved at Coleorton.—ED.

But

FOR A SEAT IN THE GROVES OF
COLEORTON

Composed November 19, 1811.-Published 1815

One of the "Inscriptions. "-ED.

BENEATH yon eastern ridge, the craggy bound,
Rugged and high, of Charnwood's forest ground,
Stand yet, but, Stranger! hidden from thy view
The ivied Ruins of forlorn GRACE DIEU;

Erst a religious House, which1 day and night

5

With hymns resounded, and the chanted rite :
And when those rites had ceased, the Spot gave birth

To honourable Men of various worth: 2

There, on the margin of a streamlet wild,

Did Francis Beaumont sport, an eager child;

There, under shadow of the neighbouring rocks,
Sang youthful tales of shepherds and their flocks;

Unconscious prelude to heroic themes,

Heart-breaking tears, and melancholy dreams
Of slighted love, and scorn, and jealous rage,
With which his genius shook the buskined stage.

Communities are lost, and Empires die,
And things of holy use unhallowed lie; *
They perish;-but the Intellect can raise, 4
From airy words alone, a Pile that ne'er decays.

10

15

20

Charnwood forest, in Leicestershire, is an almost treeless

wold of between fifteen and sixteen thousand acres.

The

eastern ridge, the craggy bound,

Rugged and high,

1 1820

that

2 1815.

But, when the formal Mass had long been stilled,
And wise and mighty changes were fulfilled ;

That Ground gave birth to men of various Parts

For Knightly Services and liberal Arts.

1815.

MS. letter to Lady Beaumont, 20th November, 1811.

3 1815.

With which his skill inspired

MS.

4 1815.

But Truth and Intellectual Power can raise,

MS. letter to Lady Beaumont, 20th November, 1811.

* In the editions of 1815 and 1820, Wordsworth appended the following line from Daniel, as a note to the third last line of this "Inscription"

VOL. IV

Strait all that holy was unhallowed lies.

DANIEL.

G

ED.